The “Finish all users’ tasks” option

Applies to version: 2020.1.x and above; author: Dawid Golonka

Introduction

Workflows created in WEBCON BPS are built of steps and paths which illustrate the various stages of the business process. When directing an instance to the next step, there is often a need to assign a task to a user or group of users. In some cases you may need to finish a task without waiting for the user to do so – you can use the “Finish all users’ tasks” option available in the administration mode.

Description

The administrator’s ability to complete users’ tasks is a very useful function used at every stage of the system’s life.

It is hard to imagine testing the implemented solutions if each time after the change was made, all users who had to perform the task had to participate in checking the correctness of the workflow operation.

The situation is similar when working on a system already implemented in the business entity. In everyday work, it may happen that the task was assigned to the wrong person or someone is on vacation etc.

Both problems can be solved by using the “Finish all users’ tasks” option available on the form for the person who is a business administrator (on the workflow/process/global level).

Business case description

The simple workflow of the vacation requests registration has been created – let’s focus on two first steps: Registration and Acceptance.

Fig. 1. The workflow of the vacation requests registration

The exemplary business entity has not yet developed a clear organizational structure, so at the registration step, the user must independently indicate to whom this request is directed.

Fig. 2. The form view of the vacation requests registration

On the screenshot above, you can see that the user submits the request for themselves and indicate Borys Szyc as an acceptor. After submitting the request, the user have noticed that Borys Szyc has not been their supervisor for some time. However, at this moment the task has already went to the wrong manager:

Fig. 3. The incorrect task assignment

The user reported their mistake to the business administrator with a request to cancel it from the workflow.

The “Finish all users’ tasks” option in the administration mode

To finish the user’s task, enter the administration mode from the administrator account level and select the “Finish all users’ task” option from the drop-down menu.

Fig. 4. The “Finish all users’ tasks” option in the administration mode

If the task has been finished, you will see the change of the icon by the user data currently assigned to the task:

Fig. 5. Change the icon

After completing the user’s task, the administrator can already follow the path and move the workflow to the next step. In this case, the administrator directs the instance to the “Rejected” step and the user who has made the mistake, register a new request.

Fig. 6. The “Rejected” step

Important! This action finishes tasks for all users assigned to a given step, regardless of their number.

Check if the task has been finished in the administration mode

To check if the task has been finished in the administration mode, go to the instance history.

Fig. 7. The instance history

At this step you can check who has a task assigned at a given step. Next to the user’s data there is a symbol that informs you if the task has been completed. As you can see in the screenshot below, the task in the “Acceptance” step was assigned to Borys Szyc and it has been completed.

Fig. 8. Information about the assigned task

You can also see that another user went through the “Reject” path. To allow the unassigned user to go through the next step on behalf of the person currently assigned to the task, you must finish the task in administration mode. As you see in the history, the task was completed by the administrator, who then went through the path to the last step.

The WEBCON BPS is a system embedded in the database that stores information about tasks in the appropriate database table – WFElementTasks. By querying this table and narrowing it down to the instance ID (from the example), you get the following result (selected columns were downloaded in the query):

Fig. 9. The table contains information about tasks in the system

The WFT_FinishedByAdmin column informs you that the task has been completed by the administrator, and the WFT_Description stores information about the fact that the task is forced to end – with administration’s data.

For more information see:

Downloading error content from WEBCON BPS Designer Studio

As you can see, ending the task in administrator mode is not an anonymous activity, and you can find out about the fact that you have performed such an action both from the portal level and (with more information) from the database table.